Never too Busy to Pray…

Martin Luther once wrote, "If I fail to spend at least 2 hours in prayer, the devil gets the victory through the day!" Wow!!

As I've shared before, I have found that when I ask God to wake me up when He wants to talk to me, He will wake me up all odd hours and times of the night. If I argue with Him (which I have done), and tell Him, “This is too early. I can’t get up now! I need my sleep.” I will either struggle going back to sleep, or if I do, I will find myself exhausted the next day, even though I got my extra sleep. I’ve had this happen over and over, and I’ve finally realized it pays to obey Him and get up when He calls. Yes, it’s seems backwards to what you would expect, but God is in the business of doing things opposite to our rational thinking it seems. And when I take this extra time in prayer, again and again I’ve found that God will supply amazing renewed strength the next day. 

So if He calls you, like He did little Samuel, instead of turning over and ignoring the voice and going back to sleep, say, “Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.” And you’ll be amazed at what He might have to say.

Speaking of prayer warriors, I don’t think we have any better example than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, it wasn’t any easier for Jesus to get away and pray than it is for us today. We are told, “No other life was ever so crowded with labor and responsibility as was that of Jesus; yet how often He was found in prayer! How constant was His communion with God! Again and again in the history of His earthly life are found records such as these: “Rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” “Great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15, 16; 6:12)[i]

We may be busy, very busy, but that is no excuse to miss the daily quality time with God. We are not busier than Jesus, and we never will be. Sometimes even His relatives thought He had lost His mind. They said, “He doesn’t even have time to eat. We must get Him away from the crowds or He will die.” But it was often these busiest times that Christ took to spend nights in prayer, and He came back to His work renewed and invigorated. We have so much to learn from His example.

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[i] Desire of Ages, p. 362